Mystery Trip!

Well, since last I posted, we have now either signed contracts/are pending contracts with:

• The church (although this was really done before the engagement, haha)
• The reception venue
• The photographer
• The DJ company

Not too shabby for a wedding that's not til next May...
I know, it seems like we're planning ridiculously early. But honestly, sooo many people get married here in Aggieland right after graduation. We didn't want all the pretty, reasonably priced things to be taken, did we? :)

Next are (probably) save-the-dates and dresses, but that won't come until later. So, that's all the big stuff done for a while. Now it's time to relax! This summer is really odd- I feel much busier right now than I do during the school year, which is somewhat depressing. What happened to sleeping in and hanging out at the pool?

However, in an odd yet fortunate manner, I get to take all of next week off of work and go on an impromptu family vacation. My dad, who usually gets five or six weeks of vacation a year, is working on a project that only allows him two prescribed weeks off from January to November. On the one hand, it sucks. On the other hand, they're paying him extra for the vacation he's not getting to take. Next week is one of those prescribed ones, so we're going...somewhere? Nobody knows where yet, including my parents.

We'd originally planned to go to (far, far east) Florida before the oil spill got there. My brother and I grew up going to the Gulf side of Florida every single summer with two other families. We hardly remember being young enough not to go, and it was the only time of the year we saw those particular friends. It was twelve to fourteen crazy people living in one beach house for the week of the Fourth of July, with sun and sand and ocean, a breeze and a deck and the most delicious food and best company you ever wanted. I think our family has missed two years since I started going at the age of three, and one of those was because I was in China.

You may see how we have some sentimental value attached to the Florida Gulf. So, when Dad said, "If you want to see it like you remember it, we need to go now, because it'll be ten years before it's normal again," we were all on board. And we were going to FLY, which we have never done! Unfortunately, plane ticket prices to Florida are not cheap right now, as we had thought. (With everyone cancelling their beach trips, wouldn't it make sense to lower the prices to lure more people into going?) Nope. They are really, really expensive. :(

So, I'm just gonna head home on Sunday with a variety of things packed, and hopefully we'll know where we're going by then. Since we plan to leave Monday.

Even though I was a little hesistant about missing five whole days of work and abandoning my roommate for so long (our apartment can be a little freaky when you're by yourself), I'm really grateful for this opportunity to get away. Each week, I keep thinking that summer will slow down, but it just keeps on running, or even speeding up. This is the chance I've been wanting- time without a list of things to do, time to read, time to pray, time to sleep, time to breathe and simply exist. It's going to be a good week.